Those words were all some people needed to hear in order to go off on Derrick Rose once again. He's soft, they said. He's only cares about himself, they said. He needs to be traded and so forth.
Such figures as Tom Thibodeau and Mike Dunleavy have since come to the star's defense, saying the comments were taken out of context and the rest of the team is confident in his commitment to everyone. Most of us only know Rose the player and (flawed) PR man. These are the ones who know Rose the person and can see what makes him who he is every day. That should be enough to calm everybody, right?
Not in a town like Chicago, unfortunately. While there's no question about the city having great fans, there's also little doubt about the ill-informed meatheads who take everything at face value. They can also turn very nasty, as Bears coach Marc Trestman's daughters learned the hard way last weekend. It often makes me ashamed to live among people who are so passionate about their teams, yet so misguided in the way they think things.
I'm not going to say Rose was right in what he had to say, especially given the timing of all the time he's missed recently. However, I can see him wanting to preserve his body for the playoffs and quality opponents. And heck, if he wants to avoid constant pain when his playing days are done, I'm fine with him thinking that. But if you're a professional athlete, it's best not to say things like he said, lest you reawaken the beasts who refuse to stay asleep.
Despite that, don't let yourself think that a player who is poor at damage control with PR blunders isn't going to try and win. From what we've seen in the games he's played in, he has at least approached the level of play that won him the MVP award in 2011. He's distributing the ball well, driving to the hoop and contrary to some belief, isn't afraid to act aggressive when needed.
Don't act like Rose has to be a model citizen either. Michael Jordan will always be my favorite athlete, but he has a vicious reputation when others rub him the wrong way. He's imperfect like everyone else, so Rose certainly has a little bit of leeway in that area. Not every player is going to act like David Robinson, who always put his team first and is an all-around nice guy.
All that matters is what Rose does on the court and in the playoffs. It's true he hasn't had a lot of those chances lately, but if he continues to do what he's doing, all of what's transpired these past couple of days will be completely forgotten about. If he doesn't play the way he can when it really counts, then by all means pile on top of him. For now though, put your torches and pitchforks away and enjoy whatever greatness we see.
From now until the middle of April, the regular season is going to be filled with these kinds of stories. If you're not used to it by now, you need an education on how sports seasons work. Hopefully, I'm just preaching to the choir. In that case, we all know how tumultuous this might be.
No comments:
Post a Comment